Does Locked Up Mean Locked Out? The Effects of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 on Black Male Students’ College Enrollment

Tolani Britton ()
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Tolani Britton: University of California, Berkeley

Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, 2022, vol. 5, issue 1, No 5, 54-71

Abstract: Abstract This paper explores one reason for the educational gaps experienced by Black men. Using variation in state marijuana possession and distribution laws, this paper examines whether the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which increased the disproportionate incarceration of Black males, led to differences in college enrollment rates. The results suggest that Black males had a 2.2 percentage point decrease in the relative probability of college enrollment after the passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. There is some evidence that drug arrests, particularly around crack cocaine but not marijuana, led to this decrease in the probability of enrollment.

Keywords: Economics of higher education; Postsecondary access (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s41996-020-00073-y

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